Ten Straightforward Social Media Tips & Tricks

As a small business or organisation, it’s becoming ever-more important to have an active social media presence so that you can connect with clients, potential customers or others in your industry.

Whether you use Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook – generally the most used (although Instagram is relevant for many industries too) – social media can be very helpful in growing these connections and growing your business.

The pace of social media moves quite fast so even if you’ve already posted an article or link, it’s okay to post the same one more than once. In particular, the Twitter feed changes so quickly that frequent posts from your business account are recommended, you can never really post too much when it comes to Twitter!

If you are re-posting an article or link, here’s some tips on how to make it stand out and get people to stop scrolling and start clicking:

1. Change the title in the post or the little bit of info you’ve given about the post. Take some content from the actual article and incorporate this information to your new title. Take a new angle, make another interesting point on why readers should click. Using a question or giving a fact based on the article is a good way to attract the readers’ attention. For example; ‘did you know that….?’ ‘is your SME using…?’ etc.

2. Use a new image. It’s a good to change up the image even if it’s the same post, and make it stand out. Use something that links to the new title you’ve created too. Standard stock photos can still work but they are a little over-used so try and change it to something relevant yet quirky, eye-catching and interesting. People like to see photos of people in posts so they feel they can relate, so try and use these sorts of images whenever possible.

3. When re-posting you can also use short videos instead of images if they work into your post. Even linking your post to another article or video if relevant, is a good way to attract attention to your post.

4. The use of hashtags is mostly associated with Twitter although they are an important tool on Instagram and Facebook has the function to use them too. Using appropriate hashtags can bring in new followers, help create new connections, open you up to new contacts & information, and can even help generate new customers.

If you’re unsure on how to use hashtags, try this in your posts:

5. Research what the top, most used hashtags are in your industry. A quick Google search can even give you some information on this.

6. Look on Twitter (or other social media sites) at the accounts of people / organisations in your industry and see what hashtags they use and how they use these hashtags.

7. At the side of your Twitter feed you can see what’s ‘Trending’. Each day follow this and try and use some of these hashtags to link to your posts and your company in general. For example, #FridayFeeling and #MondayMotivation are popular hashtags, so perhaps tweet about what a successful, busy week your SME has had and how they’re looking forward to the weekend or a quote / image to get you and your followers motivated for the work week ahead. This is a great way to get some interaction with other Twitter users.

8. Don’t forget, whether you’re linking an article from your website in your post, or just generally tweeting about your business / industry, to use your hashtags relating to your business as much as possible. For example, if you’re an IT company in Edinburgh some keyword hashtags would be: #IT #ITSupport #Edinburgh etc.

9. These hashtag tips can also be applied to Instagram if you use it for your business. If you’re posting photos of new products, or maybe a photo of your team receiving an award, then hashtag the relevant words and phrases for this.

Social media is a little more casual and fun but you’re still linking to credible articles or your website and showing that you’re a professional business or organisation.

It’s good to post about what’s in the news or what everyone is talking about as long as it’s relevant. You don’t want to get overly political but if you’re an IT company an article about how Brexit may affect prices in the industry would still be acceptable, for example.

The great thing about social media is you can add your personality or ‘voice’ to the posts and to the company, helping create your own tone of voice and making that connection with your followers.

10. And finally, don’t forget to advertise your social media pages on your website, in any newsletters and link them into your email footers!

With thanks to Karin Dubois of Network Group for her help and assistance with some of the top tips in this article.

I would just like to say a big thank you for all your help, support and patience over the past few months with all of our IT changes. I know it's not always easy when you are helping us all Quality Scotland but you got us there in the end!